DanManor

Last week Upstate filmmaker Daniel McCord traveled to Columbia for the Indie Grits Festival to check out some films and do a little Q & A after the screening of his own short “Don’t Kill The Messenger.” McCord made the wise decision upon leaving Greenville of bringing his film equipment in case the opportunity to films some bands arose.  In addition to filming other peoples movies, filming and directing his own, he has a passion for music, both hosting house shows and filming musicians playing in different environments for his DanManor series.

So as the Indie Grits Festival was winding down, McCord filmed Aaron Graves of Those Lavender Whales playing some tunes out back behind the Nickelodeon Theatre in downtown Columbia. Graves also brought his daughter Elvie along, who steals the videos by being so adorable sitting in his lap for the recording of both original songs.

Both “The Night Before Kite Day” and “Interview” are from Those Lavender Whales 2010 album
Pilgrims, Friends, & Blood​-​ties and are available on their Bandcamp page. They’ll be performing Friday in Lake City at the ArtFields Epic Art Competition and Celebration  event with fellow Fork and Spoon Records bands Can’t Kids and Say Brother.

4/19/2013 Hunter Gatherer – Columbia, SC

Since releasing their début album Wild Fire in January, Columbia’s Burnt Books has only stopped touring enough to take a couple of deep breaths. Stringing together dates up and down the east coast, the band’s been introducing their mathy style of heavy on melodic to growing crowds all over.

Comprised of former members of popular local bands Thank God, Guyana Punchline, and Tunguska, the guys in the group found the secret ingredient to their music in vocalist Zoe Lollis, whose vocals and honest lyrics move from whispers to screams.

The video for their song “In a Shallow Grave” is extremely well shot and captures the band in their practice space, cutting the minutia from the video, and giving fans an inside look at where it all comes together.

After filming an acoustic session with Valley Maker (Austin Crane, Amy Godwin) we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to film a solo one with Amy Godwin. She was after-all opening the show that night.

As people started to line up outside we filmed this minutes before the doors opened. Soon after Godwin took the stage and dazzled a sold out room with her delicate melodies and ukulele.

Valley Maker Acoustic Session

Feb 23, 2013 Conundrum Music Hall

Shot by Samantha and Josh
Produced by SceneSC

Brandon Kean had always written an occasional song on acoustic guitar, or played a solo acoustic show for fun now and then, but it wasn’t until a year ago that he stepped out on a limb to try to take his songs to the next level.

After recording “On and On”, a song which was on his first EP All the Choices I’ve Made, the ball just started rolling. Kean started to gain confidence in himself through fan reaction to the song, and from his own Rejectioneers bandmate, and Archer Avenue Studio owner Kenny McWilliams.

“Kenny was incredibly encouraging to me through the tracking process and people surprisingly enough seemed to like the song, so I told myself  “Okay. You stepped out on a limb doing that. Still scared? Still wanna do this? Take another step.” Kean said.

While Kean is currently working on a full length album, he hasn’t slowed down in the songwriting and recording department. Towards the end of 2012 and into 2013 Archer Avenue Studio went through some major renovations. Kean was one of the first to record in the new studio, so he decided that capturing some of that footage and editing it into a video would be a great thing for people to get a glimpse into the new layout, and a chance to get some new material out there.  So he talked to his friend Joey Young, who brought the idea and video to life.

For Kean songwriting just comes naturally, and luckily he has an amazing supporting cast. What used to be writing down some lyrics on a cocktail napkin has turned into singing a line or two into your trusty iPhone.

“It normally starts with me hearing a line or two in my head while in my car or at work or something and then I’ll sing it into my iPhone.  Later on I’ll sit down with a guitar and write the rest of it.”

Kean’s songs tend to be heart on your sleeve type songs, so first introducing them to the band can be nerve-racking to say the least. Thankfully he’s already developed a relationship with his band to move past those potentially awkward moments. This is where his supporting cast shines. His band, made up of Will Grubbs (Drums), Jay Hendricks (guitar), and Jonathan Gilpatrick (Guitar), seem to specialize in being tasteful, and not overplaying the parts.

“Once I bring the song to the band, I’ll normally have ideas for the overall arrangement and how it should feel– the guys that play with me are so great, by the way, and full of great ideas.”

“The Wrong Light” made its debut on the 2013 SceneSC Sampler, also marking Kean’s debut as a solo artist.

Fork and Spoon

The Lovely FewHearts and Plugs

We’re huge fans of Fork and Spoon records here at SceneSC and their new Casual Friday series, so we decided to see how it was done and film a low key acoustic session with this weeks featured artist The Lovely Few.

Why is it called Casual Friday? Well, it’s a casual recording setting, with one condenser mic set in the room. Why Friday? Well, because it’s released every Friday.

For these sessions Fork and Spoon has reached beyond the artists on their own roster, and out to friends of the label and other great artists. It’s the same sense of community they bring to the music scene with their open pot luck dinners.

Past Casual Friday Sessions Include

Toro y Moi

Gringo Star

Valley Maker

Dear Blanca

Elvis Depressedley

Dream Team

Let’s Go, Coyote!

Chemical Peel

Kid Trails

Haints in the Holler

Before the sold out Valley Maker at Conundrum Music Hall in West Columbia, SC last Saturday we had the opportunity to shoot this acoustic session with Valley Maker performing their new song tentatively titled “Only Friend.”

Thanks to Samantha and Josh for shooting this. They did a beautiful job.

Full Show Stream and Download Courtesy of Shannon Donohue.

http://www.scenesc.com/Audio/Valley%20Maker%20at%20Conundrum%20Music%20Hall.mp3

Austin Crane Live at Conundrum (45) (Right Click Save As)

Following up the 2011 Betrayer EP, Foley is starting off 2013 with a bang. The Years Ago EP
opens with “Brush”, a song featuring front-man Jay Hendrick’s and his guitar in a confessional.

The Years Ago EP builds slowly. Through “Brush” and into “More”, the video, filmed by Dust of the Ground, captures the climax of the EP, by letting in the light after nearly a minute and a half of darkness. It’s not until three and half minutes in that “More” explodes with emotion, slowed down, and captured in the video. Slowly vibrating cymbals, the emotion caught in the faces of each member, before the light turns to white. The Years Ago EP will leave you wanting more. The two songs on this EP are some of Foley’s best to date.

Foley will be at New Brookland Tavern Saturday January 19, with Rejectioneers, Elim Bolt, and Brave Baby.

Chaz in a tree.

With their new album due out January 22, on Carpark Records, Toro y Moi released “Say That”, the second single from Anything in Return today, along with a video for the song. The video for the first single “So Many Details” was released only three weeks ago and already has over 250,000 views on Youtube.

“Say That” is a simple and tasteful video, with slow zooms and casual dance moves, with the focus remaining on the man behind Toro y Moi, Chaz Bundick.

“Jingle Bells” might be Mike Mewborne’s least favorite Christmas song, but it didn’t stop him from taking it on, and putting his on twist on the Christmas classic. Mewborne and his band The Lovely Few are no stranger to reconstructing classic Christmas songs, breaking them down and building them back up with carefully constructed bursts of sound.

With this take on “Jingle Bells”  brought to us by Hearts and Plugs and The Lovely Few, electronic flashes explode into a dreamy vocal melody that we’ve all had ingrained in our mind since early childhood. The short, but sweet song captures your imagination like staring into a snow globe that dazzles through red and green and a short flashes of Merry Christmas.

Check out The Lovely Few’s performance at the SceneSC Watershed Christmas show in 2010 here.

Earlier this year Latenights guitarist Keaten North took off for six months to skate around Chile and blast off with his friends. While there, friend and talented filmaker Joonas Virtanen captured some of the moments and made a music video for Latenights song “Tree House.” The result is the most beautiful music video I’ve seen this year.

Latenights play our end of the world show Friday Dec 21 at New Brookland Tavern.